A Minute-by-Minute Guide To Team USA's World Cup Loss On Social Media

WochitJul. 02, 2014. 12:33 PM EST

For 120 minutes on Tuesday, Americans rode a roller coaster of emotions during Team USA's World C...
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For 120 minutes on Tuesday, Americans rode a roller coaster of emotions during Team USA's World Cup swan song and now there's a digital footprint to prove it. Fans took to Twitter, Facebook and other social media services as the US-Belgium match unfolded. On Facebook, 13 million people made 21 million interactions during the game; Twitter users sent 9.1 million tweets during the same time.Luminoso, a text analysis and artificial intelligence startup, used this data to map out the game, minute-by-minute. Before the game, USA-related social posts — especially those using the team's #IBelieveThatWeWillWin hashtag — dominated social media. Few posts contained negative sentiment — but that changed in the 29th minute when US defender Fabian Johnson suffered a hamstring injury and was removed from the match. Fans began to call for Altidore to come on the pitch in place of Johnson, even though Altidore plays in a different position. Goalkeeper Tim Howard, who set a World Cup record with 16 saves in the match, didn't make a dent on social media until the second half. But mentions of his name soon spiked, claiming the top spot on both Facebook and Twitter as Team USA's most mentioned player of the game.
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